Safety seat with device for automatically putting a belt on and taking it off

ABSTRACT

A safety seat for land, air and sea vehicles is provided. The safety seat has a safety belt harness and can be secured between the floor and ceiling of a vehicle via securement straps provided above and below the seat. The safety belt harness comprises two lap belts and two shoulder belts that extend from the lap belts. Also provided is an activating device that, as an extension of the shoulder belts, is guided below a seat portion to the entry region thereof. A respective tensioning strap is yieldingly disposed between the shoulder belts and the front securement straps.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a safety seat, for land, air andsea vehicles, having at least one seat portion and one back rest,wherein the safety seat can be secured in the vehicle, between the floorand the ceiling area thereof, by means of securement straps that areprovided above and below the seat, and wherein the safety seat isprovided with a safety belt harness for securing the occupant that issitting on the safety seat.

[0002] A safety seat having the aforementioned features is known from DE43 03 719 A1; the safety seat is embodied as a fabric or textile shellthat surrounds not only the back of the occupant's body but also thesides, and which has an entry portion. To secure the occupant sitting inthe safety seat, a safety belt harness is provided that closes off theentry region and is comprised of four individual safety belts that arecombined in a central belt buckle.

[0003] The known safety seat has the drawback that the putting-on of thesafety belt harness is complicated, since a plurality of belts must behooked into the central belt buckle. Furthermore, when the belts aretaken off they rest in the textile shell, so that when the occupantenters the seat, he or she may sit upon the belts and can then graspthem only with difficulty for the strapping-in process. This isparticularly significant if the safety seat is to be used in militaryvehicles, because in this case the occupant is frequently burdened withcumbersome clothing and equipment, thus significantly limiting thefreedom of movement of the occupant after entry into the safety seat.

[0004] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide asafety seat having the aforementioned features, according to which thefreedom of movement of an occupant is increased, and in particularputting-on and taking-off of the safety belt harness is simplified.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] This object, and other objects and advantages of the presentinvention, will appear more clearly from the following specification inconjunction with the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:

[0006]FIG. 1 shows a safety seat with the safety belt harness in thetaken-off position;

[0007]FIG. 2 shows the safety seat with the safety belt harnessillustrated in the strapped-on position;

[0008]FIG. 3 shows the safety seat of FIG. 1 in another embodiment withautomatic tensioning devices for tensioning and shoulder belts, with thesafety belt harness in the taken-off position; and

[0009]FIG. 4 shows the safety seat of FIG. 3 with the safety beltharness in the snapped-in position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The basic concept of the present invention is that the safetybelt harness comprises two lap belts that are each secured laterally ofthe seat portion and can be connected to one another by means of a beltbuckle comprising a buckle body and an insertion tongue, as well as twoshoulder belts that extend from the lap belts and are adapted to extendover the shoulders of the occupant, and an activating means that, as anextension of the shoulder belts, is guided below the seat portion to theentry region thereof; respective tensioning straps are yieldinglydisposed between the shoulder belts, and front ones of the securementstraps that extend on both sides of the entry region of the safety seat,in such a way that when the safety belt harness is not strapped on, theshoulder straps are held, under prestress, in an orientation that isparallel to the front securement straps.

[0011] The present invention has the advantage that due to theconfiguration of the safety belt harness with respectively two lap beltsas well as two shoulder belts a lateral support as with the state of theart is no longer necessarily required, and the safety seat is reduced toa design having a seat portion and a back rest, whereby the safety seatis still secured in the vehicle with securement straps that are disposedin the front entry region and in the rear back rest region respectivelyabove and below the safety seat. Since when the safety belt harness istaken off the shoulder straps are held by the tensioning straps in anorientation that extends parallel to the upper, front securement strapsof the safety seat, and due to the connection of the shoulder belts withthe lap belts also the lap belts are held in a plane that is disposedlaterally of the seat portion, the entry region for the safety seat isleft free, thus precluding the occupant from sitting upon parts of thesafety belt harness upon entry. To strap the harness on, the occupantneed only grasp the parts of the belt buckle held on the frontsecurement straps and join them together in front of his or her body, asa result of which on the one hand when the belt buckle is closed the lapbelts are disposed in front of the occupant's body, and on the otherhand also the shoulder straps that are connected with the lap beltsautomatically position themselves accompanied by yielding of thetensioning straps. The shoulder belts are tightened by the furthermoreprovided activating means that end in front of the occupant in the entryregion.

[0012] Pursuant to one embodiment of the invention, in the region of theback rest of the safety seat the shoulder straps are combined to form acentral back belt, and the activating means, which is embodied as anactivating belt, is connected with the back belt.

[0013] With regard to a better adaptation of the safety belt harness tothe proportions of an occupant, pursuant to one embodiment of theinvention, the buckle body and the insertion tongue of the belt bucklesecured to the ends of the lap belts are respectively connected with theseat portion of the safety seat by means of an adjustment strap, thelength of which can be altered; by adjusting the adjustment straps afterthe safety belt harness has been strapped on, the position of the beltbuckle in front of the body of the occupant can be corrected, thusadapting the position of the individual components of the safety beltharness to the body of the occupant.

[0014] Pursuant to a first embodiment of the invention, the tensioningstraps are made of a resiliently yielding material, and their ends arerespectively fixedly secured to the securement straps and the shoulderbelts, whereby pursuant to one embodiment the tensioning straps arepreferably made of rubber.

[0015] With regard to the arresting of the activating belt aftertightening of the shoulder belts, pursuant to one embodiment of theinvention a releasable securing device is disposed on the seat portionin the entry region for fixing the activating belt in position.

[0016] Alternatively, the tensioning straps can be secured to theshoulder belts and, via belt deflection means disposed on the front andrear securement straps of the safety seat, can be guided to an automatictensioning device disposed in the region of the back rest. In a similarmanner, the shoulder belts or the rear belt can be connected to atensioning device disposed in the region of the back rest. To the extentthat with this embodiment of the invention an automatic tensioningdevice is provided, this tensioning device can be embodied as a knownbelt reel-in device that is provided with a winding spring as well aswith a reversible blocking mechanism.

[0017] Pursuant to one embodiment of the invention, the activating meansengages both belt reel-in devices in such a way that a respectiveoppositely directed rotational movement of the belt reel-in shafts isactivated; this ensures that by an unwinding from the associated beltreel-in device, the tensioning straps, which are connected with theshoulder belts, are lengthened by the amount in which the shoulder beltsare tightened. In this connection, it can be provided that the beltreel-in devices are coupled with one another via a common shaft that theactivating means engages, whereby mechanisms are known that despite acentral shaft permit an oppositely directed rotational movement withinthe belt reel-in devices.

[0018] Pursuant to one embodiment of the invention, the activating meansis embodied as an activating belt that engages the central shaft of thebelt reel-in devices and that in turn can be wound onto the centralshaft.

[0019] Alternatively, an appropriately designed activating means canengage the blocking mechanism of the belt reel-in devices and, byactivation of the blocking mechanism, can respectively introduce orrelease the winding movement or the unwinding movement, respectivelyunder the effect of associating springs. In this connection, it can beprovided that the activating means be embodied as a Bowden cable havinga switch lever disposed on the seat portion so that by activating theswitch lever, the tensioning of the shoulder belts including the releaseof the tensioning straps, or the release of the shoulder belts includingthe tightening of the tensioning straps, can be initiated.

[0020] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to asafety seat having a seat portion and a back rest, but rather theinvention can also be used with a design of the safety seat as a textileshell as known from the aforementioned DE 43 03 719 A1.

[0021] Further specific features of the present invention will bedescribed in detail subsequently.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] Referring now to the drawings in detail, the safety seat 10illustrated in each of the figures comprises a seat portion 11 and aback rest 12, whereby front securement straps 13 engage the seat portionin the front entry region thereof above and below the seat portion 11,and respective rear securement straps 14 engage the upper and lower endsof the back rest 12; with these front and rear securement straps, thesafety seat 10 can be secured in a non-illustrated land, air or seavehicle.

[0023] The safety belt harness, which is provided for securing anoccupant that is sitting on the safety seat, primarily comprises two lapbelts 15, one end of which, to the side of the seat portion 11, and inthe region of the connection to the back rest 12, is either secured tothe vehicle or to the seat portion itself. Secured to the free ends ofthe lap belts 15 are, on the one hand, a buckle body 16 and, on theother hand, an insertion tongue 17, whereby connection of the insertiontongue 17 and the buckle body 16 forms a belt buckle by means of whichthe lap belts 15 can be closed in front of the body of the occupant.

[0024] Secured to the lap belts 15, or to the buckle body 16 and theinsertion tongue 17, are two shoulder belts 18 which, from theirconnection to the lap belts 15, are guided over the shoulders of theoccupant to the back rest 12, which they span from the outside; in theillustrated embodiment, the two shoulder belts 18 are joined together ina common back belt 19 that merges into an activating belt 20 as anactivating means, that is guided below the seat portion 11 toward thefront to the entry region of the safety seat 10. Disposed on the freeend of the activating belt 20 is a hand loop 23. Although notillustrated in detail, a clamping or securement device is disposed inthe front region of the seat portion 11 through which the activatingbelt 20 is guided. This securement device makes it possible, after theactuation of the activating or arresting belt 20 for tensioning theshoulder belts 18, to fix the arresting belt 20 in position and hence tomaintain the tension in the shoulder belts 18. To release the activatingbelt, the securement device can be appropriately disengaged. Disposedbetween the respective shoulder belt 18 and the associated, lateral,front securement strap 13 is a respective fixing or tensioning strap 21that is made of an elastic material, preferably rubber. The ends of thetensioning strap 21, in the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, arerespectively securely connected with the front, upper securement straps13 and the shoulder belts 18. Furthermore, a respective adjustment strap22 extends from the lap belts 15, or from the buckle body 16 and theinsertion tongue 17, to the front entry region of the seat portion 11.

[0025] As can be seen from a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2, to put thebelt harness on one proceeds as follows: the occupant seats himself orherself in the safety seat 10, with the safety belt harness disposed asin FIG. 1. To buckle up, the occupant grasps the components of thesafety belt buckle, namely the buckle body 16 and the insertion tongue17, which are disposed to the side in front of him or her and that bythe effect of the tensioning straps 21 are disposed on the frontsecurement straps 13, and closes the buckle by inserting the tongue 17into the buckle body 16. To the extent that by this movement theshoulder belts 18 are guided inwardly, the occupant places his or herarms through the thereby formed loops of the shoulder straps 18 andsubsequently pulls on the activating belt 20 by grasping the hand loop23 disposed in front of him or her. This tensioning movement tightensthe shoulder belts 18, and in particular against the effect of theelastic tensioning straps 21. If the shoulder straps 18 are sufficientlytensioned, the activating belt 20 is fixed in position in thenon-illustrated securing device. Subsequently, by tightening theadjustment straps 22, the position of the belt buckle can be corrected.Thus, with few manipulations, the strapped-in state of the safety beltharness visible in FIG. 2 can be realized.

[0026] To take the safety belt harness off, the occupant releases theactivating belt 20 from the securing device and thus disengages the backbelt 19 having the connected shoulder belts 18. Subsequently, theoccupant opens the belt buckle, and the lap belt 15 as well as theshoulder belts 18 are again brought into the starting position of FIG. 1by the tensioning straps 21, which are under prestress; in this startingposition, the safety belt harness is ready for the next buckling-upprocedure.

[0027] The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 differs from theprevious embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the tensioningstraps 21 connected to the respective shoulder belts 18, from theirsecurement to the shoulder belts, are guided over belt deflection means24, which are respectively disposed on the front upper securement straps13 and the upper rear securement straps 14, to a tensioning device,which is in the form of a known belt reel-in device 25, and which isdisposed in the region of the back rest 12; the tensioning straps 21,prior to entry into the belt reel-in device 25, are joined together toform a central belt portion 27. In the same manner, the back belt 19,which is connected with the shoulder belts 18, is also guided to abelt-reel device 26, which is in the form of a tensioning device and isdisposed in the region of the back rest, so that not only the tensioningstraps 21 but also the shoulder straps 18 are under the effect ofwinding springs disposed in the belt-reel devices 25, 26, and thenon-strapped-in position of the safety belt harness illustrated in FIG.3 is brought about by the retraction action of the belt-reel devices 25,26, while the strapping-in movement up to the strapped-in stateillustrated in FIG. 4 is effected against the action of the belt-reeldevices 25, 26, i.e. of the winding springs disposed therein. Formed inthe belt-reel devices 25, 26 are blocking mechanisms, which can becontrolled or switched in a known manner, for fixing the respectivewound-up belt sections of the back belt 19 and the central belt portion27 of the tensioning straps 21 in position.

[0028] In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the snapping-inprocess in accomplished in the same manner as described in connectionwith FIGS. 1 and 2, whereby with the joining together of the lap belts15 with the shoulder belts 18, the yielding of the tensioning straps 21is ensured by unwinding the central belt portion from the associatedbelt-reel device 25. After the lap belts 15 have been put on, theactivating means, which in the illustrated embodiment is embodied as anactivating belt 20, is activated, as a result of which the belt reel-indevice 26 that is associated with the shoulder belts 18 is disengaged,so that the shoulder belts 18 tighten. In conformity with the tighteningof the shoulder belts, the belt reel-in device 25 that is associatedwith the tensioning straps 21 releases the required amount of beltlength.

[0029] For taking the safety belt harness off, the activating belt 20 isagain activated and reverses the blocking mechanism of the belt-reeldevices 25, 26 such that now, after the release of the belt buckleconnection, the belt reel-in device 25 draws the central belt portion 27in and hence tightens the tensioning straps 21, which thereby againbring the shoulder straps 18 into the starting position illustrated inFIG. 3; the lengthening of the shoulder straps 18 required for this isensured by an appropriate unwinding movement from the belt reel-indevice 26 that is associated with the shoulder straps 18.

[0030] The specification incorporates by reference the disclosure ofpriority document DE 102 43 075.6 of Sep. 16, 2002.

[0031] The present invention is, of course, in no way restricted to thespecific disclosure of the specification and drawings, but alsoencompasses any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:
 1. A safety seat, for land, air and sea vehicles,having at least one seat portion and one back rest, wherein said safetyseat is adapted to be secured to a vehicle, between a floor and ceilingarea thereof, by means of securement straps provided above and below theseat, said safety seat further comprising: a safety belt harness forsecuring an occupant that is sitting on said safety seat, said beltharness in turn comprising: two lap belts that are each securedlaterally of said at least one seat portion and can be connected to oneanother by a belt buckle comprising a buckle body and an insertiontongue; two shoulder belts that extend from said lap belts and areadapted to extend over shoulders of an occupant; an activating meansthat, as an extension of said shoulder belts, is guided below said atleast one seat portion to an entry region thereof; and respectivetensioning straps yieldingly disposed between said shoulder belts, andfront ones of said securement straps that extend on either side of anentry region of said safety seat, in such a way that if said safety beltharness is not strapped on, said shoulders belts are held, underprestress, in an orientation that is parallel to said front securementstraps.
 2. A safety seat according to claim 1, wherein in the region ofsaid back rest said shoulder belts are joined together to form a centralback belt, and wherein said activating means is embodied as anactivating belt and is connected to said back belt.
 3. A safety beltaccording to claim 1, wherein said buckle body and insertion tongue ofsaid belt buckle are secured to ends of said lap belts and arerespectively connected to said at least one seat portion via respectiveadjustment straps, the length of which can be altered.
 4. A safety seataccording to claim 1, wherein said tensioning straps are comprised of aresiliently yielding material, and wherein ends of said tensioningstraps are respectively fixedly secured to said front securement strapsand said shoulder belts.
 5. A safety seat according to claim 4, whereinsaid tensioning straps are made of rubber.
 6. A safety seat according toclaim 2, wherein a releasable securing device, which serves for fixingsaid activating belt in position, is disposed in said entry region ofsaid seat portion.
 7. A safety seat according to claim 2, wherein saidtensioning straps are secured to said shoulder belts, wherein beltdeflection means are disposed on front and rear ones of said securementstraps, wherein an automatic tensioning device is disposed in the regionof said back rest, and wherein said tensioning straps are guided viasaid belt deflection means to said automatic tensioning device.
 8. Asafety seat according to claim 7, wherein a further tensioning device isdisposed in the region of said back rest, and wherein said shoulderbelts or said back belt is connected to said further tensioning device.9. A safety seat according to claim 8, wherein said tensioning devicesare embodied as belt reel-in devices that are provided with a windingspring and a reversible blocking mechanism.
 10. A safety seat accordingto claim 9, wherein said activating means engages both of said beltreel-in devices in such a way that a respective oppositely directedrotational movement of a pertaining belt reel-in shaft is initiated. 11.A safety seat according to claim 10, wherein said belt reel-in devicesare coupled with one another via a common shaft that is engaged by saidactivating means.
 12. A safety seat according to claim 11, wherein saidactivating means is an activating belt that engages said shaft of saidbelt reel-in devices.
 13. A safety seat according to claim 9, whereinsaid activating means is connected with said blocking mechanism of saidbelt reel-in devices.
 14. A safety seat according to claim 13, whereinsaid activating means is embodied as a Bowden cable having a switchinglever that is disposed on said seat portion.
 15. A safety seat accordingto claim 1, which is embodied as a textile shell that is tensioned bysaid securement straps.